Is You LGB 'Cause Your Gun Pink?

Submission 8,658

Part of a series on LGBTQ+. [View Related Entries]

About

Is You LGB 'Cause Your Gun Pink? is a catchphrase taken from a viral Grand Theft Auto Online (GTA 5) clip by YouTuber TrapCeleb that became a TikTok sound and meme in early 2023. The soundbite references the LGBTQ+ abbreviation, associating the other player's pink gun with them being gay. The sound was used by mostly queer or female TikTokers who highlighted a cliché LGBTQ+ signifier, hypothesizing that the secondary character is a gay man, lesbian or transgender person.

Origin

On October 31st, 2021, YouTuber^[1] TrapCeleb uploaded an hour-long livestream recording of Grand Theft Auto V: Online called "WE AT THE BODEGA PT 4." At the 11:16-minute mark, TrapCeleb runs towards a player's car, gets inside and then asks the player sitting in the backseat, "Is you LGB 'cause your gun pink?" Over the course of a year and a half, the video received roughly 738,300 views and 16,000 likes (shown below).

I'm about to get in this man truck.
And I think it's Quando Rando back here.
How you doing? [cackling] You got a Newport long hon-
Oh, don't point that gun at my face!
Is you LGB 'cause your gun pink?

Spread

On February 22nd, 2023, TikToker^[2] @trap.celeb (a fan account of the YouTuber) uploaded the 20-second clip to the new platform, gaining roughly 6.5 million plays and 1.3 million likes in one month (shown below).

After TikToker^[2] @trap.celeb's video, creators started using the TikTok^[3] sound, starting with two videos uploaded on March 1st, 2023. One was posted by TikToker^[4] @kisses4dannii who used it to joke about being too naive around her "hood friends," earning roughly 1.9 million plays and 550,100 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). The other video was posted by TikToker^[5] @bluebunny679 who made a similar joke with her video, gaining roughly 1.2 million plays and 302,400 likes in three weeks (shown below, right).

Going into March 2023, the sound became associated with LGBTQ+ signifiers in real life. For instance, on March 12th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @trina._03 posted a video with the sound that had text reading, "when i see a girl wearing a lot of rings." The video received roughly 2.5 million plays and 389,900 likes in 17 days (shown below).

Over the course of one month, the original TikTok^[3] sound amassed over 37,400 videos using it.